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You need a cheap supply of booze....
Find your LOCAL still master and buy 20 gallons from him.
Or whatever fills the tank 1/3 of the way.Empty tanks and add said BOOZE a day or so before rough weather.
Let it sit for at least a day.Caution...no smoking.
Go sailing...enjoy the said rough weather.
While sailing run/pump all lines until they smell like said BOOZE.
Dock and go get a good dinner for the admiral.
Wait 3 days and flush whole system with fresh water.

If you do not have a local supplier buy a still and make your own.They are reasonably priced on the net.
Mark

08-31-2007 10:30 AM

camaraderie

Capt.Kris...Baking soda will not do it. Use bleach as Brak suggests in all your working tanks...then one by one...open all your faucets until you can smell the bleach coming out of them. Then let the bleach stay in the lines for an hour. Then open all faucets and pump out the tanks and refill with clean water. The repeat the faucet by faucet exercise until you can no longer smell bleach.

08-31-2007 10:25 AM

sailingdog

K1VSK-

You might want to re-read the original post. He says:

Quote:

When we went down to the boat this weekend, the water had a strong sulfer like smell. I assume that this is related to bacteria or other life in the water. I''m going to add a two stage filter to part of the fresh water system, but would appreciate suggestions on how to avoid the problem.

Smells are often mis-attributed to the tank(s). If you cleaned it out thoroughly, that would only confirm that. A smell so pervasive is more likely coming from under then tank, particularly as it had leaked in the past, or in hidden spaces such as under a hull liner. Sounds like you need to investigate further.

08-31-2007 10:18 AM

k1vsk

Smells are often mis-attributed to the tank(s). If you cleaned it out thoroughly, that would only confirm that. A smell so pervasive is more likely coming from under then tank, particularly as it had leaked in the past, or in hidden spaces such as under a hull liner. Sounds like you need to investigate further.

08-31-2007 02:46 AM

brak

Lots of clorox. Seemed to help me.

Drain the system, fill with clean water (and a full bottle of clorox), drain again, repeat. It helps to have an external pump to drain the tank - works faster and does not wear out the water pressure pump.

Also, if you can reach inside the tank - open it and clean the walls. Use flexible pressure wand (they sell those things to clean out RV toilets) to power spray with water inside.

This might take a while.

08-31-2007 02:16 AM

captkris

Well, what happened with my tanks is this:
I have 4 water tanks. One leaked so I separated it and it was like this for some years. New crew member found disconected water pipe and he happilly put it back were it was. After next fill of water the smell was this bad that you could not stay belowe the deck. After a while I found out what happened and we flashed the tanks about 10 times with baking soda and separeted the leaking tank again. Now, after all that the smell is still there and we can not stand it. My tanks are monel and I never had any problems with the smelly water. So, in short words the water in bad tank was just as bad as cespol tank and it got to the system!!!
Well, dont know what to do now and I will not give up sailing becouse of that. Any advice from anyone? Thanks

08-30-2007 06:25 PM

Valdensule

This may work

I work with some ex-navy types. The first words out of thier mouths was "Bugjuice". Apparently if you make the normal recipe for Kool-Aid, but double the sugar, (times x for the amount you need) 100 gal use 10 gals of mix. Slosh it around, let it sit, slosh some more, it does the cleaning very well. Run it through all the plumbing. Don't drink it, just flush overboard. Safe and effective (so they say).

08-30-2007 05:49 PM

Valdare

Each spring we run a cap full of Clorex through the water tanks, then refill the tanks and add another cap full. If we do not use the boat much during the summer the sulfur smell comes back.. We clean again and leave a cap full in the fresh water...takes care of the problem.

John

08-30-2007 02:13 PM

sailingdog

SallyH-

That stuff isn't approved or tested by anyone I'd trust... UGH.

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